Needed - Some Humbling

[standard2785]

Well by safety I mean...easiest to get into...there is no safety in life...in undergrad i was rejected from University of Vermont and accepted at Penn and Cornell...

[apropos]

Originally Posted by standard2785

I am applying to the Class of 2009 for a Finance PhD. The reason I am picking Finance over a Econ is because I would get in easier at a Finance school where I can use my real world experience and it is less theoretical than Econ. Though I know it is easier in general to get into an Econ program, and finance does want math but not to such a degree as Econ schools. Anyway, here are the schools I am applying to and I would like a few more safety schools in the Northeast so any additions would be great.

My Profile to help gauge what a safety school would be

Finance Major at a top liberal arts school

GPA = 3.8
GMAT = 760
2 years of RA work
3 Good LoR

NYU
Wharton
HBS
Duke
Columbia
Kellogg
MIT
Stanford
UNC
Rochester
BC
BU
Maryland
Yale
Carnegie Mellon
Penn State
Rutgers
Princeton
Darden
BU
Bentely

I think you're mistaken to think that finance admissions do not require as much math as economics adcoms. Most, if not all, of these programs can be just as theoretical as the Economics programs offered at the same universities. Even if you intend to concentrate in the applied/empirical aspects of corporate finance or financial economics, it still will be expected that your mathematics preparation is comparable to that of Economics Ph.D. applicants. Why? Because most Finance schools require taking some, or sometimes all of, first year Ph.D-level Economics and Econometrics courses. However, since you will be applying two years from now, you have plenty of time to take Real Analysis I, Linear Algebra, and a course in Probability.

[standard2785]

Am I wrong in saying that if you graduate from Penn with a Financial Econ degree and someone grads from Wharton with a Finance degree the second, though prob took the same courses will get hired more quickly and with higher pay.

NOTE: All other factors beign equal such as letter, dissertation, grades, etc

Why is that